Repenting unto Mercy
In the battle for marriage, I am inclined toward the sin of the Church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7). Working hard, persevering, identifying falsehood (the church’s strengths; vs.2, 3) mean little if one loses his first love.
And that has been my challenge in this battle. In fighting for God’s honor in defending marriage as one man for one woman, have I lost touch with God? The other day, I felt that familiar conviction: ‘Are my works for Him overtaking my devotion to Him? Is a political battle with all of its complexities and strife superseding the one true thing: Christ alone, the true image of God in humanity from which marriage draws its meaning?’
“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” (v.4) I must return to that place at His feet, even and especially as the battle for marriage intensifies. The ‘Martha’ in me, ‘worried and anxious about many things’, must become more like her sister ‘Mary’ who seated at His feet and listening to Jesus found the one true thing ‘that would not be taken from her’. (Luke 10:38-42)
“Remember the height from which you have fallen!” (v. 5a) To me, that height is mercy: how God in Christ bridged the gap between my native perversion and His design for my life. That height is pure mercy. Nothing else sets us free from the debt, the gap, those inexplicable distortions of humanity that distance us from His purposes for our humanity.
Only mercy sets us free to know Him and those purposes. I must return to that place where He first met me, and where He calls me to live—that place at His feet where I receive mercy afresh. There I marvel and devote myself afresh to Him out of gratitude.
I agree with the Psalmist when he says: “I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call upon Him as long as I live…The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simple-hearted; when I was in great need, He saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” (PS 116: 1, 2, 5-7)
I was in great need; I am in great need, and through mercy, my soul can rest, even and especially in battle. I remember the height from which I have fallen. I remember mercy, and my soul is restored.
“Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Rev.3:5b) Mercy received becomes the basis for giving mercy away. I pray that I will be true to the call to make a way for all broken image-bearers who seek healing in Jesus’ name. I pray that they would find it in Christ’s body—to discover mercy in the church instead of judgment.
I pray through the ‘gay marriage’ crisis that churches throughout the land would wake up to their responsibility to offer transformation to broken ones, especially to those with same-sex attraction.
I pray for the truthful fundamentalists who tend to conceal their own need for mercy. May they confess their own sins boldly and receive a double portion of mercy in turn! May they then give it away generously to the broken in their midst. And for the tentative ‘emergent’ church, may she wake up to her need to give a clear and forthright answer to those struggling with homosexuality. May she see the mercilessness of not giving an answer and so placing souls at risk of further destruction!
Let mercy have its perfect way in our churches. Let us repent and do the first things—welcoming broken ones with the truth that makes mercy pure and powerful, able to save and restore lives.
Then let mercy restore us for such a time as this. A time to battle for marriage. We battle in mercy for the upholding of marriage as one man pledged to one woman. We do this on behalf of generations to come.
Fighting for marriage in our land is an act of mercy for them. Protecting marriage helps ensure the stability and dignity of children now and to come.
And it restrains the hand of God who must respond to our rebellion if ‘gay marriage’ is allowed to continue. God desires to have mercy and not judgment. But He must act if His image is perverted by any state or nation. ‘Gay marriage’ fundamentally assaults the highest expression of God’s creation: humanity as male and female. To battle for the end of ‘gay marriage’ in CA invites God’s mercy; to concede to it incites trouble.
Let us together do what we did at first. Let us receive mercy afresh, and let us offer it generously to all in need. Right now CA is in need of mercy: mercy to fight for what is right in order that God would have mercy on the land.
Honor Marriage for the good of all. Vote YES on Proposition 8.
“Let marriage in its true definition prevail O God; let marriage in its true form provide for generations to come. May our good battle on behalf of marriage ‘defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless, and maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed.’ May it ‘rescue the weak and the needy, and deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’ (Ps 82: 3, 4)”
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